« State of the State | Main | Side Effects of Being a Literature Major »
July 16, 2007
Blog That
I'm doing it again. All of the time. On what might be considered a regular basis. So much so that it's become apparent to me and is under consideration of being considered annoying.
"I should blog that."
This is the phrase of a phase I have cycled through numerous times since beginning my blog just about four years ago. I'm not sure why I'm feeling it again, but the urge to "blog that" is overwhelmingly present.
I drove back to my parents' house on Thursday the 12th and I'm actually staying until this Wednesday the 18th (a whole week around people consistently... Haven't had that for about two whole months!). I went to Mike's house for his birthday and then his family's reunion, too. Throughout the events of my visit I've noticed that it doesn't matter whether I'm at home or someone else's home or even having lunch with a friend--at some point I will feel the urge to blurt out that I should blog that... whatever "that" happens to be.
Friday morning I watched a bit of the news show my father had on and heard the phrase "moral turpitude"--in my mind this instantly translated into moral turpentine. I imagined people with moral turpitude employing their moral turpentine to dissolve the ills of their pasts. This seemed like a hilarious concept at the time and I announced to my father, "I should blog that." Not that this matters to him... He and my mother know I have a blog, and they check it periodically (more now because I live further away), but not because I have a terribly interesting life that they don't already hear about on the phone at a minimum of twice a week. Generally I tell them if I posted something of interest (like a video of my insane dog) so they can check it out... not when I posted something because I said "I should blog that."
In fact, I've not been able to determine if there is a specific feeling I have before announcing this (or sometimes just silently saying it to myself). This is probably a little extreme, but I've begun keeping track of what it was that I wanted to blog, where I was and what I was doing at the moment I announced the forthcoming post, and if I remember how I was feeling at said moment I write that down too. I know--dorky, right? Well my conclusion is that my results are inconclusive. There's no pattern and certainly no common element amongst the various situations. Therefore, I never truly know when I might (or might not, for that matter) announce, "I should blog that."
This isn't disrupting my life insofar as, say, tourettes syndrome might; nonetheless it is disrupting my daily patterns of thought as they might have been logical and fluid without my insistence on "blogging that." Not mentioning that I cannot possibly blog every last thing I announce that I should because in that case I would most likely have to either reduce the duration of my nightly slumber or reduce the time I dedicate to other things like my full-time job. Neither of those are very good ideas though, and while my blog would flourish in that case my own life would suffer greatly. It might suffer so much that perhaps I would cease to encounter moments in time that stimulate me to announce that I feel compelled to record them. Perhaps this is my cure?
I guess I don't mind it all that much. I try to keep the list growing, though, since writing ideas are, well, writing ideas and none of them should be generically filtered without first sitting down and giving each a chance to impress me. I slash away after that, but the ones that grow are sustained on the others that don't--mental compost.
I just hope that while I try to restrain myself from actually making audible my desire to blog that no one forces his or her own form of restraint upon me, physical or otherwise... I'll just announce these ideas to my notebooks instead.
Posted by KarissaKilgore at July 16, 2007 5:58 PM
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://blogs.setonhill.edu/mt/mt_tb-awoisdlkfj.cgi/10205
Comments
I have to give myself permission to post a link to something interesting I've read elsewhere, rather than tell myself I have to write substantial comments of my own to go along with each link. That helps me keep the ideas flowing into my blog, without the pressure to make every posting a masterful essay. But this summer I have also started carrying around a sketchbook -- it's easier to pull my brain out of a sketchbook than out of writing, if I'm suddenly needed in the next room.
Posted by: Dennis G. Jerz at July 16, 2007 6:15 PM